by Greg Ramsay
Bailey awoke on the floor of the power plant. It resembled a writhing mass grave of converting bodies. To her horror, she saw that she too was changing, her body became coated in plate-like seamless armour similar to the Kamagiri’s. It didn’t entirely cover her - it leafy much of her paper-white skin showing. Convinced she was dreaming or seeing someone else’s life, as she had to be dead, Bailey took herself in. She was naked bar the armour. Her privates were barely covered. Her already ample muscle had visibly doubled and threatened to bulge out of her skin. Embarrassed, Bailey willed the armour to keep forming. Much to her surprise, it worked partially. Ultimately, she looked like she wore the equivalent of a revealing shirt and shorts, only armoured.
Depressingly, she found altering the armour made her very weak so she allowed it to revert. She was convinced she was dead so it didn’t matter. Stepping over bodies of partially formed alphas, Bailey emerged on the street. At that moment, a desperate starvation forced her to return. The tendrils which formed her revealing armour leapt from her body. She was nude as it tore into those around her. Moments passed. Everyone who had started to change was, unbeknownst to her, devoured by Bailey. Once she snapped back to reality, the power plant was empty. She wore a full suit of Kamagiri-style armour. Horrified by what she had just inadvertently done, she was also overwhelmed by immense power. She knew what she had to do.
Bailey raced to the generator core of the dark matter plant. She found multiple reinforced glass containment cells. Willing her tendrils into action, Bailey sucked all of the dark matter catalyst out of the plant and absorbed it. It overloaded her feeling of power, and turned her soft blue eyes into crimson red. Bailey raced outside. Bodies lay strewn around the area with the Prophet at the epicentre of the chaos. Enraged, Bailey wanted nothing more than to smash the plant into the ground. To her amazement, her arm hyper-inflated with black armoured muscle. Smiling, she turned, jumped into the air and swung her fist. The moment it connected with the building’s roof, it was as if she held the power of a hurricane and an atomic bomb. The building was blown apart and torn into unidentifiable garbage. The ground where it once stood contained a massive crater. For whatever reason, the destruction reminded her of when she played dolls with her dad as a kid. When she was losing, she’d have her doll attack from a above as she triumphantly screamed “Knight Smash!”
“Knight Smash...” Bailey muttered to herself before dropping to the ground unconscious.
The next day Bailey awoke in a hospital. Her body had reverted to the skimpy armour. She was surrounded by her family.
“Bailey, how?“ Her mom asked. Media drones clamoured against the door.
Bailey strained to remember a moment. “The KamaGiri’s tendril on my last arrow made my skin go white like dad used to tell stories of Bruce. The monsters through me in the plant, but instead of fully becoming one I became...” she looked at herself embarrassed again before continuing, “A slutty looking ripoff of the KamaGiri...” Steven chuckled until his wife’s glare silenced him.
Bailey heard children outside the door. “You did it Bailey, you beat them all, destroyed that stupid plant and saved these kids!” Her mom said with pride as she swung open the door. Bailey willed her armour to cover her more but it wouldn’t - she was too weak. Instead, she was covered by the full-body embrace of two children.
“Thank you!” They said in unison as a media drone snapped a picture of them. The kids raced back to their parents, giggling all the way.
There’s something else you need to see, Bails,” Julie said gently, pulling out her holowatch. On the holographic display, Bailey saw that not only had she graduated Guardian’s Mecca with full honors, but she was also ranked as the number two pro Guardian of the world.
“I surpassed Purple Spark?“ Bailey asked incredulously.
“You sure did, honey. Kids will soon have your poster in their room!” Steven said joyfully.
“Hopefully, I’ll be dressed better than this on the poster,“ Bailey said, drawing laughter from her parents. Eventually, everyone left so she could rest, but not before Bailey was inundated with interviews to the point of bursting. Thankfully her dad had the sense to put a stop to it after three straight hours.
Epilogue – The Watcher in the Stars
Lia watched the battle of her chosen one with great interest and was overjoyed at the result. Not only was there another person like her, though on a much weaker level, but also a person who happened to be a direct descendant of her original couple. Lia watched from the stars, waiting to be needed. She was rarely called upon, because for as long as number two Guardian, Bailey Knight, was around, all was well.